Pastry crumbs
by Sian Meades-Williams
You discover my gift just outside Watford Junction.
Tucked into The Dutch House, a scattering of pastry
covering the last lines of chapter four. Pain aux raisins,
you WhatsApp. From my trip to Brighton last month, I
reply. You told me once it was like finding clues to my
adventures, you could picture the teabag string dangling
from my paper cup. Months later, you slip the book into
my tote, leaving your own crumbs: paper wrinkles from
your hours in the bath, a rose-pink smudge of strawberry
jam, blades of grass from your garden (how are your
peonies?) Everyday treasures pass back and forth in our
shared paper world. I feel the curl of your fingers, resting
on the pages with mine.
Sian Meades-Williams is a poet, author and freelance writer living in North London. Her recent poetry has been published by The Prose Poem and Green Ink, her features by the New York Times, National Geographic, and Sunday Times. Her latest book, The Pyjama Myth: the Freelance Writer’s Survival Guide, was published by Unbound. Her historical novel-in-progress, Belville, won the Yeovil Literary Prize.